Emma [On hold]

Is this chapter 7?

“—Emma! Emma! It’s okay—“

“—Give her some air —“

“—What’s wrong with her—“

“—Just breathe, Em —“

Emma was hugging her knees on the floor of her Potions classroom, shaking uncontrollably. She was terrified and no one knew why. Tears rolled down her face with no intention of ceasing. It seemed as if she were in her own world, and no one could get through to her.

“Everybody out!” Snape shouted at the class. “Weasley, get Professor Cura. Clearwater, get the Matron.”

The class filed out of the room, whispering amongst themselves. They were trying to figure out if she was insane.

“Right, the next person to say that Emma is crazy is going to get a whack.” Audrey shouted at her classmates. “You can all shut right up, right bloody now, or you’ll regret it.”

Emma had taken no notice of her class’s absence. She continued to breathe rapidly, completely terrified.

“Miss Young,” Snape said to her sharply. He was worried. He’d never dealt with anything like this before. “Miss Young. Emma,” he pleaded, to no avail. It wasn’t until ten minutes later, when Professor Cura had arrived and sat next to her, that Emma seemed to come back to reality.

“Emma, what’s wrong? What happened?” He said softly, and she leant into his shoulder and sobbed.

“He’s back,” she choked out.

“Who?”

“T-the voice I heard at Christmas.” She sat up and wiped her eyes, trying to breathe normally again. “I’ve heard him since b-b-but I ignored him. I th-thought I was g-going crazy but I’m n-n-not.”

“What did he say to you, Emma?” Professor Cura asked kindly, taking hold of her hand.

Emma sniffed and took a few breaths, trying to compose herself, before speaking again, “He told me he was going to kill you.”

***

Everyone was confined to their dormitories – except Percy Weasley, Audrey Lace and the Clearwater twins who were allowed to stay in Emma and Professor Cura’s quarters. The teachers were out searching the school. They interrogated paintings and suits of armour. They asked ghosts for help. They were trying to find anyone who might be terrorising an innocent, blind first-year student and threatening her carer.

Professors Snape and Stark (the Astronomy teacher) were standing guard over Emma’s quarters, while inside it was spookily quiet. Emma sat on the floor, and her friends formed a protective circle around her, facing outwards. They didn’t want anyone messing around with their friend either.

The search lasted the whole afternoon and night, and dinner was served inside the common rooms for everyone to share. It got later and later, and one by one, Emma’s friends started to drift off to sleep. Emma rested her head on a cushion and tried to let sleep find her, but as soon as she began to doze —

“Emma, Emma, Emma, you shouldn’t have told anyone. Now they’re all afraid, and your lovely Professor is looking for me. It’s a pity, really...”

“Who are you?” Emma called out. “What do you want?”

“I’m a figment of your imagination.”

“Who are you?” Emma repeated. “What do you want?”

“I want you to suffer like I suffered.” The voice snarled.

“What happened to you?” Emma said in a whisper.

The voice didn’t respond for a long moment, “The world was blind to me, and you are blind to the world.”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t help that. I didn’t choose to be born like this –“

“You weren’t.”

“Sorry?”

“You weren’t born blind. I was there. You were taken away, hidden from the world. They didn’t want a horrible thing like you to walk the Earth. I knew, I know the truth about you Emma Young – and because of it I was cursed this way.”

“Who cursed you?”

“Your mother. Enough questions. It’s time to kill your friends.”

“No!” Emma shouted. Her friends woke straight up and the door flew open as Professors Snape and Stark ran inside.

“Emma, what’s wrong?” Audrey asked, scared.

“He was here. Just now. He was going to kill you.”

“Em, there’s no one here.” Percy said quietly.

“He could be invisible?” Penelope suggested.

Emma remained seated, whilst everyone swung their arms around, searching the room for an invisible man. Her head was spinning. She was born with sight? Who cursed the invisible man, and why. What did he mean ‘the truth’ about her?

“I’m sorry, Emma,” Audrey sighed resting her back against the wall.

She could practically feel everyone in the room exchanging looks and judging her. She knew she sounded crazy and, as she was starting to believe, perhaps she was.

***

Hey hey! I know this is really short, but the next upload should be soon (don’t hold me to it) and yeah... I forgot what I was going to say.